Page 69 of Savage Union

JESSINA

Istarted walking. What else could I do? I picked what I thought was the general direction the spaceport might be in and headed that way.

Luckily, Turk had given all the men—myself included—a shot of translation virus to enable us to understand and read the local languages. Eventually I saw a sign that said,

“Spaceport, 14 clonocks” with an arrow pointing in the direction I wanted to go.

I had no idea what a “clonock” was or how long it might be, so I had no choice but to keep trudging. I occasionally got stares from the Salashions who were driving or walking along the same road, but they didn’t seem to be a very friendly or nosy race. None of them spoke to me or bothered me, much to my relief. They just went on along with their business. In fact, no one said a word to me in the two hours I spent walking back to the ship until I came into a more populated part of the city.

At least, I assumed it was more populated. I was passing by a building that had a glowing neon 3-D sign hanging above it. In the reddish light from the sun, which was beginning to go down, the words were lurid.

“Girls, girls, girls!” the 3-D letter proclaimed in neon pink and lime green. “Try the famous Salashion double-cunny! Yes, our girls haveTWO!”

But it wasn’t just the sign that got my attention. Chained up out front of the establishment, which was obviously a whorehouse, was one of the spikers. This beast was even bigger than the one I’d seen at the spaceport and it looked mad. Its gray spikes were tipped with red and orange and they were rattling together, making a menacing sound like a thousand angry rattlesnakes. Its eyes were flaring orange and gold and its lips were curled back to show long, curving fangs.

I stayed clear of the creature, glad that it was chained to the side of the building. But just then the front door opened and two people came out—a man and a woman. And one of them was familiar.

“You can’t just not pay—you tried ‘em both!” the woman shouted. She was Salashion with four arms and long black hair that reached down to her ankles. Her dress was askew and hanging off one shoulder, showing that she apparently had four breasts as well as four arms.

The man, I saw, was Jerx. He was fastening his uniform trousers as he walked.

“Fuck you, lady—both of ‘em were so loose I couldn’t feel a damn thing!” he snarled.

“My twats are nice and tight!” she shot back. “Maybe the problem is your tiny dick!”

I didn’t want to get into the middle of this—or be seen by Jerx—but there was nowhere to hide. Well, except a large metal bin that smelled like a dumpster across from the whorehouse.

There was no way I was going to climb in that thing, but I didn’t mind hiding behind it. I hurried over, meaning to duck around the backside, but just then I heard someone calling my name.

“Hey, Cass! Hey, Catamite!”

With a sinking heart, I realized it was too late to hide. Jerx had already seen me.

Trying to act nonchalant, I half-turned to face him.

“Hey, how much of that did you see?” he demanded, jerking his chin at the angry Salashion sex worker who was standing by the spiker and still shouting at him.

“How much of what?” I asked blandly. “I’m just headed back to the ship.”

“Thought you were the Captain’s date today?” He raised his eyebrows at me. “Didn’t he take you to his top secret bargaining party?”

“We split up. I mean…he’s around here somewhere,” I added, realizing belatedly that it was a bad idea to let Jerx know I was out here all alone.

“Oh yeah?” He made a show of looking around at the empty road behind me, still ignoring the angry sex worker. “I don’t see him anywhere.”

“He’s around,” I said again, wishing I had thought to lie earlier. “Anyway, I’m headed back to the ship.”

“No, you’re not.” Jerx caught me by the arm—my hurt arm—and spun me around to face him fully.

“Ouch!” I snapped, trying to pull away from him, but he wouldn’t let go.

“Hey, there’s somethin’ different about you, Catamite,” he remarked, studying my face. “What did you do? Why is your hair longer?”

I reached up to feel my hair uncertainly. Of course it had been growing all this time and it grows quite fast. Now that the Synth projection of me as a man was gone, its true length was revealed and it was almost down to my shoulders again.

“I didn’t do anything to it,” I mumbled.

“It looks good—it’s pretty,” Jerx told me. “You’repretty—a hell of a lot prettier than that whore I just fucked!” He nodded at the sex worker who was still giving him looks that could kill. “Bet your asshole is tighter than either one of her pussies,” he added.

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